Police beat

Grove City: Dog chases mail carrier; owner cited by police

Wednesday May 14, 2014 10:20 AM

A dog owner was cited after one of her dogs chased the mailman, according to Grove City police.

While on patrol, an officer was flagged down at 1:40 p.m. May 6 in the 2800 block of Larosa Drive by a U.S. Postal Service employee who told the officer he had been chased by a dog. The officer approached the yard and house where the postal employee said the dog was, and the dog immediately rushed toward the cruiser, barking and growling, according to reports. Another small dog was also in the yard but was not aggressive.

After being unable to contact anyone at the residence, the officer put the mail in the mailbox for the mail carrier, who said he was afraid of the dog, and opened the back storm door, and both dogs ran inside.

The officer also left a card at the residence for the dogs' owner to call the police department. The next day, a 40-year-old resident of the house called police and confirmed the dogs were hers. She was cited for allowing her dogs to run at large and given a summons to appear in Mayor's Court. Neither dog was licensed, and the owner was given 10 days to get them licensed as well.

In other recent incident reports from the Grove City Division of Police:

• At 11:52 a.m. May 8, a resident of the 2600 block of Eugene Grove called police after she received contact from her alarm system company, advising her that her house alarm was active. Officers arrived at the residence and found the rear door open but no one inside. Later, the resident advised police that nothing was missing, but she found a key lodged in the deadbolt of the rear door. The key was not one of the original house keys. The resident doesn't know where it came from and suspects the original key must have been stolen.

• Between midnight and 8 a.m May 6, someone cut three tires of a vehicle belonging to a Galloway man while it was parked in the 3300 block of Heritage Glen Drive. The Galloway man told police he had been having trouble with his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, who had been calling her to get her to come back and making veiled threats against him. The damage is estimated at $300.

• Between May 3 and 6, someone stole a credit card belonging to a resident of the 2300 block of Shirlene Drive and used it to make four purchases at the Home Depot in Reynoldsburg. The card had been in the residence at the time of the theft. The resident said he had his son over on May 3, and the first charge occurred shortly after his son left. The son also was the only person reported to be in the residence during the time the card came up missing. The resident said his son has stolen from him in the past. The charges total more than $2,200.

• On May 6, a vehicle belonging to a resident of the 4200 block of Ashgrove Drive was stolen by an unlisted suspect known by the owner. The vehicle was later recovered and impounded by the Franklin County Sheriff's Department on West Broad Street in Columbus, with the suspect as an occupant. At this time, no charges have been filed.

• An employee of a business in the 2200 block of Southwest Boulevard reported being assaulted by a co-worker at 8:32 a.m. May 7. The employee told police he had sent the co-worker home for having an attitude and followed him to make sure he clocked out and left the property. The suspect reportedly turned around, demanded to know why the employee was following him and pushed him with one hand on the side of the face, knocking the employee to his knees. The suspect was located on Gantz Road, and police found he had an active warrant for failure to appear through Columbus police. Police arrested the suspect, a 44-year-old Columbus man.

• While a man was working out between 12:20 and 1:20 p.m. May 6, someone opened a locked locker at the Grove City YMCA, 3600 Discovery Drive, where the man had stored his belongings and stole them. The stolen items included a wallet, debit card and shoes. The owner had secured the locker with a lock, but when he returned the lock was gone.

• A tablet computer valued at $300 was stolen between 6 and 9:30 p.m. May 5 from a residence in the 3200 block of Cleveland Avenue. The locator application on the device indicated it was in the area of the 4100 block of Haughn Road, but it could not be located when police went searching for it.

• Someone stole a wallet belonging to a resident of the 3000 block of Pine Manor Boulevard from the owner's unlocked vehicle while it was parked in the driveway between 8 p.m. May 6 and 7:30 a.m. May 7. The wallet contained a number of credit cards, one of which already had an unauthorized charge on it by the time the owner canceled the cards.

• A purse belonging to an Ashville woman was stolen between 4:30 and 9:30 p.m. May 6 from her car parked in the 2000 block of Stringtown Road. One of the car's windows had been open.

• Sometime between May 2 and 5, someone dismantled and stole an air conditioning unit from inside a residence in the 1500 block of River Trail Drive, causing an unknown amount of damage in the process. The unit was valued at $700.

• Two students were charged with disorderly conduct following a fight around 7:30 a.m. May 8 behind Grove City High School, 4665 Hoover Road, near the woods at Clark Drive and Murfin Fields. School officials broke up the fight and took both students to the office, where they also were disciplined by the school.

• Administrators at Grove City High School were called to the lunchroom at 11:55 a.m. May 7 on reports of a fight between two students that had escalated after one threw food at the other and the other threw back. Both students were disciplined by the school and charged by police with disorderly conduct.